This invention relates to a flavoring system and method, particularly for use in snack food production in which a flavoring such as salt or a spice is applied onto potato chips or the like after they are taken out of a frying machine.
Apparatus for adding flavoring to snack food items such as potato- or corn-based items have been described, for example, in Japanese Patent Publications Tokko 4-35132 and 2689139 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,090,593 and 5,846,324. In these prior are apparatus, food items such as potato chips taken out of a frying machine are introduced into a rotary drum and a flavoring material is added at a specified ratio to mix them together. Whenever a different kind of flavoring material is to be used, it is necessary to wash all components downstream of the flavoring apparatus. This typically includes a weighing machine for dividing received items into batches of a specified weight to be made into individual packaged products.
It now goes without saying that washing all these devices on the downstream side is both cumbersome and time-consuming. Moreover, since all these devices must be stopped during such a washing operation, it has a significantly adverse effect on the productivity of the system.
When devices on a production line are to be washed, the one on the upstream side is stopped first but those on the downstream side are allowed to continue operating until the products being processed thereby are all discharged. Since the operator cannot exactly control the number of finally outputted products before the system is completely stopped, there may be left a container which is only incompletely filled with finished products.
In view of such problems with prior art systems, it may be proposed to provide as many flavoring systems as there are different kinds of flavoring materials to be used, each system being used for applying only one kind of flavoring material. This, however, will affect the equipment cost adversely. Moreover, one cannot do away with the washing if the consumers' taste changes and a new kind of flavoring must be introduced.
Another problem with prior art flavoring apparatus is that food items of different sizes remain inside the apparatus for different periods of time. As a result, the rate of application on individual food items cannot be made uniform even if the quantity of added flavoring material is adjusted according to the flow rate of items.
Still another problem is that a material such as stainless steel must be used for devices on the downstream side because flavoring materials often contain salt. Since the parts that come into contact with food items must be easily detachable, the device becomes accordingly more complicated and expensive to produce.
An apparatus is known for packaging quantities of a frozen product in which a sauce is supplied into the same packaging following portioning of the product. However, this is not suitable for handling flavoring for snack food items.